


The Bridal Shroud

by A_Stressed_Cupcake



Series: The Final Days of Victor Frankenstein [2]
Category: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Also the romance isn't featured in this work so if you don't ship them there is no danger, Angst, F/M, Gen, Ghosts, Hallucinations, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, angst angst angst, poor elizabeth, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24134737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Stressed_Cupcake/pseuds/A_Stressed_Cupcake
Summary: "The next incident happened no more than a few hours later; as my worry for my unfortunate friend grew with his fever he was once again awake, and he possessed at that moment, after a brief bout of deep anguish, the most peculiar calm, the strangest, most peaceful demeanor I had seen him exhibit since that first incident."
Relationships: Victor Frankenstein & Elizabeth Lavenza
Series: The Final Days of Victor Frankenstein [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717951
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	The Bridal Shroud

_ The next incident happened no more than a few hours later; as my worry for my unfortunate friend grew with his fever he was once again awake, and he possessed at that moment, after a brief bout of deep anguish, the most peculiar calm, the strangest, most peaceful demeanor I had seen him exhibit since that first incident.  _

I was roused from my deep slumber hours later, and there was no trace of Clerval or of the daemon, both of whom I had last seen before falling into the fitful sleep that had prevented me from fulfilling my vow and finally eradicating the plague I had released upon the Earth. I sobbed against my pillow, knowing well that it was but a fantasy, a fabricated ending to my true tale: how could I ever hope to destroy a monster that had so easily murdered men and women much healthier than I? I could hardly move from my bed.

I wept louder when it occurred to me that I had no power and no agency in Clerval's fate then, whether he was a ghost or the friend I had once adored, I did not know; still the anguish that ravished my fragile mind when those last, agonising seconds of consciousness returned to mind, in which I had seen him taken away from me once more, that horrific sense of despair, made me cry out in agony. Victor Frankenstein was, once again, in mourning, and nothing would end my suffering. All earthly attachment seemed to me a meaningless endeavour, when it was destined to be ripped away from me eventually, in spite of all my efforts.

It was in that deep abyss of despair that my angel found me.

"You look ill, Victor." 

It was but a whisper, very nearly drowned out by my inconsolable weeping, but so dear to me was that voice that I perceived my sorrows flutter away from my shoulders for a moment. I saw Elizabeth then, kneeling at my bedside, with her head resting upon crossed arms. Her golden hair, which I'd so oft admired, fell free and loose upon her shoulders. A nightgown, the same she had worn the last time I had seen her, enveloped her, more akin to a shroud than a dress; the thought frightened me, as it occurred to me that she was no more real than Clerval had been.

"Elizabeth!" I exclaimed. 

She regarded me with a look of cold pity.

"Victor." said she, "Who do you weep for? Henry, Justine, our family? Me? Or is it you that you mourn?"

"What are you saying?" I asked her, though the crushing weight of my despair hung heavy above me not unlike the sword of Damocles, minutes away from falling upon my fragile sanity.

"Dry your tears, cousin. Your efforts now are vain and futile; they are born not of love, but of pride."

"Elizabeth!" I cried, "Why do you say that? Nothing but Death himself can stop me: I shall bring this nightmare to an end, and destroy the wretch that has destroyed you; if not love, what would spur me? Certainly not pride, for pride is vain. It was pride that made me inflict such horror on this world as that monster; I have learned my lesson, and it is out of love that I have chased him to the ends of the Earth!"

"You speak as though pride were a daemon, forcing you to create life that was not meant for this world. Pride cannot force you, Victor; it is you who has followed its call." 

I joined my hands in prayer; surely, Elizabeth, who had from my earliest memories been my angel, would not turn against me: "Do not say that! You cannot say that, Elizabeth! I did not know what would happen!"

She smiled, though her countenance expressed the deepest sadness. I wished, at that moment, to embrace her once as I had done before, yet something prevented me from doing so; perhaps it was Elizabeth's figure, which appeared almost fickle and ethereal, as water in a pond: I feared that, if I dared to touch her, she would melt as snow beneath my fingers.

"You had many a chance to end this; you did not." she said. 

"If I had known-"

"You knew!" she cried, "You knew; we did not! Your creature knew more of us than we knew of him. We did not run; we did not know we should. You do not weep for us, Victor: you do not weep for me. If you did, it would not be for my death. It would be for the hours in which I wasted away, mourning your brother; for the tears I shed for the fate of my innocent Justine; for the days spent alone with your father and Ernest in a house of grief while you were away with Henry, and for my despair when he too, who was as dear to my heart as you, fell victim to your schemes! You do not weep for me, Victor!"

This she cried, and dropped her gaze to the level of her arms, followed soon after by her head. Peacefully still, she rested against my side, too far to touch, too near to leave, and I perceived the pallor of Death upon her skin, the same that I had seen once before on my wedding night; I trembled, unprepared by all means to see my dearest once again deprived of life.

I called to her, once, twice, a hundred times, yet she did not rise. The rush of agony that such a sight caused me was only comparable to, and not unlike, the first time that I had witnessed it. I cannot say how long I laid there, too ill to move and too pained to weep, until Sleep like a new and lively bride carried me in its arms away from that painful sight.

_ In my distress, both for Frankenstein and for the fate of my ship and my crew, I fell prey to a deep exhaustion and I found myself asleep at his bedside; this, I fear, greatly upset him, for I saw him shed bitter tears in his tormented sleep.  _

_ For a moment, I thought I had heard him say "Elizabeth". _

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 y'all!!!  
> #Elizabethdeservedbetter2k20 and it was about time she told Victor off  
> I finished writing this at midnight. Somebody stop me.  
> Ngl I'm kinda proud of that speech.
> 
> Leave a comment because this fandom is small and I'm sad :(
> 
> -Cass


End file.
